Growing Louder: The Environmental

Movement in Clayoquot Sound, 1980-93

By

Bryce Safton

Supervised by

Dr. Penny Bryden

A graduating Essay Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements, in the

Honours Programme.

For the Degree of

Bachelor of Arts

In the

Department

Of

History

University of Victoria

April 4, 2017

1

Table of Contents

I: Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….....2

II: Meares Island……………………………………………………………………………….....4

III. Internationalization…………………………………………………………………………..19

IV: Conclusion...............................................................................................................................32

V: Bibliography.............................................................................................................................35

List of Figures

Figure 1: Chief George Frank and members of the Clayoquot band delegating Meares as a

tribal park, 1984, p.12

Figure 2: Distribution of logging blockades in Clayoquot, 1984-93, p.23.

2

I. Introduction

During the summer of 1993, a logging protester in Clayoquot Sound1 held up a sign that

read, “Harcourt: Have the courage to listen to the people.”2 This demand resulted from the

persistent logging of Clayoquot by large corporations, which had drawn sharp criticism from

environmentalists since the early 1980s. However, the protester’s call for Harcourt to “listen to

the people,” raises an interesting question. Namely, who were these “people” that the premier

needed to listen to? And why did logging Clayoquot threaten them? What follows is an attempt

to answer these questions by exploring the tangled, tricky and, at times, problematic, nature of

Clayoquot’s environmental movement.

More specifically, this paper will examine the environmental movement in Clayoquot

Sound from its beginnings in the early 1980s, to its development as an international movement in

the early 1990s. It will be argued that the movement underwent a fundamental change over this

decade. In its early stages, Clayoquot’s environmental movement was comprised of a number of

local stockholder groups who banded together to protest logging on Meares Island. These local

stakeholders united around the common belief that the island should be protected under Native

Title. However, in the years that followed, Clayoquot’s environmental conflict dramatically

expanded in scope to consume the entirety of the Sound’s forests. In turn, the environmental

movement transformed from a local effort, into one carried out primarily by large-scale

1 Clayoquot Sound lays within the traditional range of the Nuu-Chan-Nulth First Nation, and sits on land never

formally ceded to the crown. 2 Zoe Blunt, Clayoquot Sound 1993, 1993, “To Save a Rainforest,”

<http://www.zoeblunt.ca/category/environment/> (Accessed March 31, 2017)

3

environmental groups. These groups no longer paid particular heed to local interests, and

situated the conflict in a broader cultural discussion regarding the value of the “wilderness.” In

turn, the movement drifted away from the “people” who once defined it.

The environmental movement in Clayoquot Sound developed in light of a forestry

management process in British Columbia that had traditionally favoured the interests of large

logging corporations. This preference for large corporations began at the turn-of-the-century,

when the provincial government – which owns 98% of B.C.’s forested land – adopted forestry

policies aimed at attracting foreign capital. Large corporations, mainly from the U.S., could

obtain long term logging leases, with few cut restrictions, in exchange for yearly payments to the

province. And although the government reconfigured logging leases under the model of

“sustainable yield”3 in 1947, it did little to prevent these large corporations from logging B.C.’s

old growth forests wholesale.4 This hands-off approach to forestry management gave primacy to

the bottom line of logging corporations, and paid little attention to the interests of local

stakeholders. Furthermore, it led to large corporations holding tenure over the majority of B.C.’s

forested land. For example, by 1975, the ten largest forestry companies in the province

controlled sixty percent of its allowable cut.5

3 Sustainable yield instituted the “tenure system,” which represented a high-modernist approach to forestry

management where large corporations could still log at dramatic rates, albeit mitigated by “scientific” solutions such

as tree planting. 4 Sarah Pralle, Branching Out and Digging In: Environmental Advocacy and Agenda Setting, (Washington:

Georgetown University Press, 2006) 36. 5 Jermey Wilson, Talk and Log: Wilderness Politics in British Columbia, 1965-96, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1998),

115.

4

The government’s preference for large corporations in forestry management did not go

unchallenged either though. During the 1960s and 1970s, stakeholder groups such as the fishing

and tourism industries demanded that the government also consider their interests in the forestry

management process. These demands met some measure of success, when the NDP was elected

in 1972 under David Barrett, who campaigned on the promise to reform forestry management.6

Unfortunately though, Barrett’s promise proved easier to make than keep. After only 36 months

in power, the premier left office without implementing any serious forestry reforms.7 Following

Barrett, Bill Bennett’s Social Credit Party came to power, and quickly got to work containing the

reformist voices that had helped elect the NDP four years earlier. In particular, the new

government sought to fragment opposition to B.C.’s forestry management regime by dealing

with demands for reform on a site by site basis. This approach contained opposition locally, and

did not require the government to implement any sweeping changes that would empower local

stakeholders in the forestry management process.8

II. Meares

By 1980, forestry politics in B.C. were reaching a crisis point. While the Social Credit

Party attempted to put a lid on demands for reform, they could not stem the wave of protest from

local stakeholders who demanded that their voices be considered in forestry management. These

6 Bruce Rogers, “David Barrett elected Premier of B.C.,” Sunday Magazine, September 3, 1972, reproduced on

CBC Digital Archives, <http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/1972-dave-barrett-elected-premier-of-bc> (accessed

March 31, 2017) 7 Wilson, Talk and Log, 147. 8 Ibid., 151.

5

demands led to the emergence of valley-by-valley conflicts across B.C. in the late 70s and early

80s, where local stakeholders battled against large corporations, and the government, in B.C.’s

war in the woods. One of the most prominent of these battles took place on Meares Island,

where a number of local stakeholders supported Native Land Claims to the island in an effort to

protect the shared values they ascribed to its forests.

The conflict over Meares emerged in response to Macmillan Blodel’s (MB) plan to log

the island in 1980. Meares is located in the heart of Clayoquot Sound, and sits only a few

hundred meters offshore from the Town of Tofino. The island had largely been spared from

logging up to 1980, and hosted an impressive swath of old growth forest which boasted the

world’s largest cedar in terms of trunk mass. MB — then the largest forestry cooperation in B.C.

— received tenure over Meares in the 1950’s under Tree Farm License (TLF) 20, which

encompassed 42% of the island, and totalled 3593 hectares of forested land.9

MB’s initial proposition to log Meares elicited concern from a number of local

stakeholders in Clayoquot. These stakeholders included the tourist industry, the Friends of

Clayoquot Sound (FOCS; a local environmental group), and the Clayoquot Band10 who argued

that the Ministry must consider other resource values in the forestry management process.11 This

argument had merit given that B.C.’s government typically favoured large corporations such as

9 The Province of British Columbia, Ministry of Forests, Meares Island Planning Options: Report of the Meares

Island Planning Team (hereafter; BC, Meares Report), Current Situation, June 30, 1983, 7. 10

The Clayoquot Band now refers to themselves as the Tla-o-qui-aht Band, and are one of fourteen band

governments who comprise the Nuu-chanh-nulth First Nation. However, in an effort to accurately reflect the

historical record, I have chosen to use “Clayoquot Band,” as this is what the group called themselves during the

Meares Island controversy. Non-withstanding though, this paper acknowledges the deep problematic legacy that

pervades through colonial naming practices, and attempts to use First Nation names when possible. 11

BC, Meares Report, “Executive Summary,” June 30, 1983, i.

6

MB, and attempted to quell stakeholder opposition in its forestry policies. Somewhat

surprisingly though, the Ministry broke from tradition, and set up the Meares Island Planning

Team (MIPT) in response to local concerns during the spring of 1981.

In some respects, the MIPT represented a departure from B.C.’s traditional forestry

management process. For one, the team drew together a vast collection of local stakeholders

who the Ministry called upon to develop an “integrated resource plan” for Meares. These

stakeholders included representatives from the tourist industry, the Clayoquot Band, and the

FOCS, alongside labour and forestry industry representatives.12 This level of public involvement

appeared to give local stakeholders a voice in the planning process, a measure that B.C.’s

forestry management regime traditionally denied. Additionally, the Ministry tasked the MIPT

with addressing the qualitative value of Meares for the local community. These qualitative

values included the island’s ascetic appeal, its cultural importance for the Clayoquot Band, and

its value as a recreational site for outdoor enthusiasts.13 By addressing these qualitative values,

the Ministry showed a measure of concern for local interests which did not necessarily align with

the bottom line of the logging industry.

Despite its progressive attributes though, the MIPT was undermined by a number of

critical shortfalls. For one, the Ministry gave the team a vague and unclear mandate. While the

Ministry tasked the team with developing a plan for the island, it was not obligated to actually

reach a consensus. The absence of this obligation denied stakeholders with different views an

12

BC, Meares Report, “Project Participants,” June 30, 1983, xiv. 13 BC, Meares Report, “Introduction,” 2.

7

incentive to compromise, making the team more of a space where they could simply state their

opposing views.14 Additionally, even if the team reached a consensus, the Ministry of Forests

was not obligated to accept it.15 So while on the surface it appeared as though the MIPT

involved local stakeholders in the management process, this involvement was fairly benign.

The weak nature of the MIPT became apparent when the Ministry ignored their

recommendations in 1983. Although the team had not reached a single agreement, it did propose

three separate plans for Meares. Each of these plans restricted the volume of timber that MB

could harvest from the island, and one even promoted its total perseveration.16 However, the

Ministry remained unimpressed, and instead, unilaterally proposed its own plan for the island.

This plan closely resembled MB’s earlier one, which ironically, led the Ministry to create the

MIPT in the first place.17 In the context of the Social Credit Party’s efforts to contain opposition

to its forestry policies though, this irony becomes understandable. Ultimately, the MIPT did not

represent a new era of forestry management in B.C., but rather an effort to preserve its old one

by placating local interests.

For a number of local stakeholders, the failure of the MIPT was the last straw. Not only

had the Ministry initially ignored their interests by approving MB’s first plan, but now also

completely disregarded the local-oriented planning process that was supposed to give them a

voice in forestry management. Faced with this frustrating position, a number of local groups

14

Debra J. Salazar and Donald K. Apler, Sustaining the Forests of the Pacific Coast: Forging Truces in the War in

the Woods, (Vancouver, UBC Press, 2000), 97. 15

Ibid., 98. 16

BC, Meares Report, “Conclusions and Recommendations,” 71. 17

Wilson, Talk and Log, 195.

8

banded together in opposition. This united opposition represented the early environmental

movement in Clayoquot, and was characterized by acts of direct political action. Most notably,

representatives from the tourism industry, the FOCS, and The Clayoquot Band engaged in a

logging blockade on Meares during November of 1984.1819 During the blockade — which was

the first of its kind in Canadian history — the protesters gathered on the shores of C’is-a-qis Bay

in an effort to prevent MB’s loggers from entering the island’s forests. With no violent

confrontation, their effort proved successful, at least in the short term. MB decided to settle the

matter in court by filing an injunction against the blockaders later in November, and agreed to

halt logging operations until the courts resolved the matter.

The blockade on Meares represented the pinnacle of the early environmental movement

in Clayoquot. The event was covered widely in newspapers across the province, and even made

it into the New York Times. Furthermore, it was immortalized in Mearse Island: Protecting a

Natural Paradise, which the FOCS published in collaboration with the Western Canada

Wilderness Committee (WCWC) in 1985. In the book, there are several photographs which

depict defiant logging protesters courageously fending off MB’s chain-saw bearing boats. One

of these photos is even captioned by the phrase, “David meets Goliath.”20

However, all the publicity which subsequently surrounded the blockade muddied its

fundamental premise. In particular, the blockaders did not meet on Meares with the sole

18 The Friends of Clayoquot Sound and The Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Meares Isalnd: Protecting a

Natural Paradise, (Vancouver, Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Western Canada Wilderness Committee (co-

publishers), 1985), 56. 19 Some tree-spiking also occurred on Meares, although this was condemned by the FOCS and the Clayoquot Band. 20 Ibid., 57.

9

intention of “protecting a natural paradise.” Rather, they gathered on the Island’s shores in

support of Native title.21 Following the failure of the MIPT’s proposals, the Clayoquot Band had

declared Meares Island a tribal park. While there is no exact definition for a “tribal park,” the

term can best be understood as a specific site to which First Nations claim title based on its

unique cultural, social, and economic values.22 For the Clayoquot Band, these unique values

included the productive salmon streams on Meares, its abundance of traditional medicines, and

its heritage sites such as culturally modified trees, and claim middens.23

The Clayoquot Band’s tribal park declaration provided the glue for the early

environmental movement in Clayoquot. In particular, it provided local stakeholders, who the

Ministry of Forests and MB had alienated both historically and during the MIPT discussions,

with a standard to rally around. For example, the FOCS stated that MB had “no right, moral or

otherwise, to proceed with its logging plans,” due to the declaration.24 Meanwhile, the tourism

industry stated that logging on Meares should not continue while Native land claims remained

unresolved.25 This support is further demonstrated by the fact that both the FOCS, and members

of the tourism industry played a major role in the blockade, which the Clayoquot Band initiated

21

Ibid. 22

Michael Lee Ross, First Nations Sacred Sites in Canada’s Courts, (Vancouver, UBC Press, 2005), 26. 23

Hereditary Chiefs George and Alex Frank, “Tribal Park Declaration,” April 21, 1984, in Warren Magnusson and

Kaaren Shaw, eds., Clayoquot Documents: Volume 1 (Tofino, Politics of Clayoquot Sound Workshop, 1997),1. 24

Friends of Clayoquot Sound, “Meares Island Newsletter: History of Battle to Save Meares,” 1984, in Warren

Magnusson and Kaaren Shaw, eds., Clayoquot Documents: Volume 1 (Tofino, Politics of Clayoquot Sound

Workshop, 1997), 3. 25

BC, Meares Report, “Member Statements: Village of Tofino Positions,” Statement on Native Concerns, May

1983, 72.

10

in order to promote their tribal park claim.26 The FOCS and the tourism industry supported the

Clayoquot Band’s claim, because each of the three groups held compatible social,

Figure 1: Chief George Frank and members of the Clayoquot band declaring Meares a tribal

park, 198427

economic, and cultural stakes in Meares. These compatible stakes were both threatened by MB,

and could be protected under the island’s status as a tribal park.

For one, the tourism industry, the FOCS, and the Clayoquot Band each held a stake in the

wildlife and fishery resources present on Meares. However, the relative value of each of these

stakes varied between each group. To start, The Clayoquot Band relied on the island’s fishery

and wildlife resources for both economic and cultural reasons. As the sole permanent inhabitants

on Meares, the group laid trap lines throughout the island, hunted waterfowl, and harvested Coho

26 Friends of Clayoquot Sound and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Meares Island: Protecting a

Natural Paradise, 56. 27

The Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Meares Island Tribal Park, 1984, http://focs.ca/clayoquot-sound/first-nations/

(accessed April 1, 2017)

11

and Chum from its various streams.28 From a purely economic perspective, these activities

provided the foundation for the Clayoquot Band. In their tribal park declaration, the Band

described the island as the “economic base of our people,” which relied, in part, on their ability

to harvest salmon, and hunt deer and waterfowl.29 MB threatened these activities because the

corporation planned to clearcut the majority of TFL 20.30 Clear-cutting severely compromises

the health of forest-dwelling wildlife populations, and the productivity of salmon-bearing

streams. In the case of the former, the practice deprives wildlife of their habitat and food

sources; in the latter case, clear cutting can raise water temperatures and increase sediment

levels, which in turn, compromises the ability of salmon to spawn.31 By potentially comprising

the health of salmon-bearing streams and wildlife populations, MB threatened the economic

foundations of the Clayoquot Band. The island’s designation as a tribal park however, would

remove this challenge because it would grant the Clayoquot Band title over Meares. In turn, they

could maintain their “traditional way of life” through governing the island according to “the law

of our forefathers.”32

The maintenance of the Clayoquot Band’s “traditional way of life,” also speaks to the

cultural value that the group ascribed to Meares’s fishery and wildlife resources. A central

tenant of the Nuu-chah-nulth33 world view is “nishuck-ish t’sawalk,” which means “everything is

28 BC, Meares Report, “Member Statements: Clayoquot Band’s position on the logging off Meares Island,” 1983,

71. 29

Hereditary Chiefs George and Alex Frank, “Tribal Park Declaration,” 1. 30

MacMillan Bloedel Limited, Meares Island integrated resource use plan: TFL 20 portion, (Vancouver,

MacMillan Bloedel Limited, 1983), 12. 31

Richard Rajala, “Nonsensical and a Contradiction in Terms: Multiple-Use Forestry, Clear-cutting, and the Politics

of Fish Habitat in British Columbia, 1945-1970,” BC Studies, no. 183, Autumn 2014, 94. 32

Hereditary Chiefs George and Alex Frank, “Tribal Park Declaration,” 1. 33

As mentioned before, Clayoquot Band is one of fourteen bands who comprise the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation

12

one.” This philosophy does not separate humanity from “nature,” and enforces a high level of

mutual respect and responsibility between all living beings.34 Resource extraction helps

maintain the legitimacy, and continuation, of the “t’sawalk” worldview. For example, each year,

Elders hold a ceremony for the first salmon of the year caught, in which they sprinkle the fish

with down, and return its head and tail to the sea.35 By honouring the fish in this way, the

ceremony emphasizes mutual respect, and responsibility between the Nuu-chah-nulth and the

salmon. If the Nuu-chah-nulth fail to undertake the ceremony, they risk jeopardizing future

salmon runs.36 And while MB by no means stated that the Clayoquot Band could no longer

practice the salmon ceremony, their logging plans on Meares nevertheless challenged its

legitimacy. As noted above, clear cutting impairs the ability of salmon to spawn. However,

marginal salmon returns — or not at all— compromise the ceremony, because it is based on a

mutual obligation where the Nuu-chah-nulth respect the salmon and, in turn, the salmon sustain

the Nuu-chah-nulth. With low or non-existent salmon returns this relationship loses its

significance. Ultimately, the salmon ceremony provides just one example of the integral

relationship between natural resources, and the Nuu-chah-nulth worldview. This relationship

illustrates that the Clayoquot Band held an inexorable cultural and economic reliance on the

fishery and wildlife resources present on Meares. MB threatened that reliance. However, by

redefining Meares as a tribal park, the Clayoquot Band could remove this threat because they

would gain title over the island. In turn, the group would have the ability to govern its wildlife

and fishery resources according to their “traditional way of life.”

34

Umeek of Ahousaht (E. Richard Atleo), “Discourses in and about Clayoquot Sound: A First Nations Perspective,”

in Warren Magnusson and Karena Shaw eds., A Political Space Reading the Global trough Clayoquot Sound,”

(Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002), 214. 35 Eugene Richard Atleo, Tsawalk: a Nuu-chah-nulth worldview, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 204), 43. 36

Ibid.

13

Like the Clayoquot Band, the local tourism industry also had an economic stake in the

fishery and wildlife resources present on Meares. Clayoquot’s tourist industry was largely based

in Tofino, and had developed rapidly since 1959, when the government constructed Highway

Four. Highway Four linked Clayoquot’s forests to the rest of Vancouver Island, drawing in a

large number of tourists who followed its snaking twists in search of a pristine “wilderness.”37

And of course, these tourists brought their wallets with them. The government of Tofino

estimated that tourists spent eighteen million dollars annually in the Sound, an impressive figure

which transformed the town from a sleepy backwater into a hub of tourist activity by 1980. This

tourist influx was further supported by the Federal Government’s creation of Pacific Rim

National Park Reserve in 1970, which hosts the world famous West Coast Trail.

Regarding the fishery and wildlife resources on Meares, the tourism industry felt that

MB’s plan to clearcut the island and therefore decimate its fish and wildlife populations,

compromised the industry’s continued economic growth. They held this concern because the

natural abundance of Meares held a lucrative potential. In particular, the industry argued that

they could develop recreational opportunities on the island to further bolster the number of

tourists visiting Clayoquot.38 The rational behind this argument was partially a result of

Meares’s unique “wilderness” quality in a surrounding area “strongly utilized for timber

production.”39 MB threatened this status, though, and in turn it also threatened the future of

37

The highway was also ironically funded by large corporations such as MB and B.C. Forestry Products, who

wanted the link Clayoquot’s forests with the pulp mills in Port Alberni (Margaret Horsfield, Tofino and Clayoquot

Sound: A History, (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing Co., 2014)), 219. 38 BC, Meares Report, “Demands on Resources,” 1983, 17. 39

Ibid., 10.

14

recreational opportunities on Meares. On the other hand however, the Clayoquot Band’s tribal

park declaration provided an open door for the tourism industry. The Band stated that they

would “share Meares with non-natives,” who wished enjoy various recreational activities on the

island such as waterfowl hunting, fishing, and gathering restricted amounts of seafood.40 This

open door policy illustrates that the tourism industry and the Clayoquot Band had compatible

economic stakes in Meares. Although the groups conceptualized the value of the island’s

wildlife and fisheries differently, both these values could be protected, and developed in a tribal

park. This common ground suggests that the compatible interests of local stakeholders held the

early environmental movement in Clayoquot together.

Members of the FOCS also had a stake in the wildlife and fishery resources on Meares.

But while the relative interests of the other two groups was fairly discernible, the picture was not

as clear with the FOCS. This ambiguity partially stems from the fact that the FOCS was an

environmental advocacy group that local residents formed with the intention of “preserving”

Meares.41 These residents came from all walks of life, and therefore, “persevering Meares” did

not necessarily mean the same thing to everyone. Nevertheless, the group asserted that the

fishery and wildlife resources on the island held value as social assets for the local community.

In particular, they stipulated that recreational fishing and hunting on Meares played a significant

role in the community’s “social well-being.”42 This social interest was compatible with the

economic interests of the tourism industry— at least in the short term 43 — who wanted to

40

Hereditary Chiefs George and Alex Frank, “Tribal Park Declaration,” 1. 41 Friends of Clayoquot Sound, “Meares Island Newsletter: History of Battle to Save Meares,” 3. 42

BC, Meares Report, “Member Statements: Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Meares Island— The forest is worth

more then the trees,” June 13, 1993, 5. 43

As an avid fly-fisher myself I know that tourists are not always a welcome sight on our streams

15

develop recreational opportunities on Meares. Furthermore, the social value of recreational

fishing and hunting aligned with the Clayoquot Band’s tribal park declaration, which as noted

before, offered an open door for non-natives wishing to enjoy the island’s natural bounty.

The stakes which the FOCS, the tourism industry, and the Clayoquot Band held in the

fishery and wildlife resources on Meares, related to another value of the island for the local

community: its quality as a “wilderness.” This value was primarily relevant for the FOCS and

the tourism industry. For the tourism industry, the “wilderness” quality of Meares represented

an economic asset because — as the island lay directly across from Tofino— it constituted a

primary “viewpoint” for tourists.44 “Forested slopes” defined this “viewpoint,” which held a

unique status in an area otherwise dominated by the effects of logging.45 MB challenged this

asset because the corporation planned to log highly visible sections of the island, particularly its

east-side.46 Like their impact on the wildlife and fishery resources on Meares, logging highly

visible areas represented a threat to the economic stake that the tourism industry held in the

island.

The FOCS also had a stake in the ascetic quality of Meares as a “wildness,” although for

different reasons. As with their evaluation of the island’s fishery and wildlife resources, the

FOCS conceptualized the worth of Meares’s “wilderness” quality in terms of the local

community’s social welfare. For one, they argued that the island’s picturesque quality provided

44 BC, Meares Report, Demands on Resources, 1983, 9. 45

BC, Ibid., 10. 46

The MOF required that MB defer this logging for 20 years in their final decision on Meares. Still though,

underlying messages was that the area would be logged at some point. (Wilson, Talk and Log, 195.)

16

local residents with “intellectual, emotional, and spiritual” benefits that were becoming

increasingly rare.47 It is easy to write this argument off as nonsense. However, given the history

of Tofino, it had a degree of merit. Before the construction of Highway Four, a significant

number of artists flocked to Tofino, seeking a peaceful and pristine refuge to pursue their various

crafts.48 This trend continued through to the 1980’s, where a number of notable artists resided in

the town for its picturesque quality.49 Given that MB planned to clear-cut Meares, it threatened

this “picturesque” quality, which held a social value for the local artistic community. In a more

tangible sense though, the FOCS also argued that MB threatened the local community because

its plan to clear cut the island would reduce housing prices in and around Tofino.50 While the

group did not provide a quantifiable estimate to back this claim up, it nevertheless illustrates the

potentially far reaching consequences of logging for locals. Ultimately, Tofino was a town that

was both founded around, and defined by, its proximity to an aesthetically pleasing “wilderness.”

By planning to clearcut this “wildness,” MB posed a danger to the social welfare of the local

residents who composed the FOCS, and the interests of the tourism industry.

Both the FOCS and the tourism industry valued the “wilderness” quality of Meares in

terms of its ascetic appeal. While MB threatened this value, Native title could protect it, because

the Clayoquot Band showed no desire to log the island — at least in the short term. Even though

the Band declared Meares their “economic base,” they primarily defined this economic base in

47

BC, Meares Report, “Member Statements, Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Meares Island— The forest is worth

more then the trees,” 3. 48

Horsfield, Tofino and Clayoquot Sound: A History, 160. 49

Ibid., 230. 50 BC, MOF, MIPO, RMIP, Demands on Resources, 1983, 11.

17

terms of traditional resource harvesting practices, along with commercial fishing.51 The band

preferred these activities, in part, because B.C.’s forestry management system had historically

alienated First Nations. Under the system, First Nations received few of the benefits flowing out

of the forest, and they often existed on the margins of the wage labour force where they faced

discrimination from employers.52 The Clayoquot Band had experienced this troubling reality

first hand, stating in 1983 that, “over the past three years, our band members have tried

unsuccessfully, to seek employment from the same companies who are wishing to log off

Meares.”53 In light of this situation, the Clayoquot Band had no immediate interest in logging

Meares. Instead, the group sought to maintain the traditional resource harvesting practices which

both culturally and economically sustained them.54 This goal aligned — at least in the short term

— with the aesthetic, “wilderness” quality of Meares valued by the FOCS and the tourism

industry.

Ultimately, the tourism industry, the FOCS, and the Clayoquot Band shared compatible

stakes in Meares. While the nature of these stakes differed between each group, they shared two

common features. First, MB’s plan to clear-cut the island challenged each. Second, a tribal park

declaration would protect these stakes, because it would grant the Clayoquot Band control over

the island’s natural resources on which they culturally and economically relied, while still

providing room for recreational opportunities, and the protection of Meares’s “wilderness”

51

BC, Meares Report, “Current Situation,” 1983, 6. 52

Stephen Wyatt, “First Nations, forest lands, and “aboriginal forestry” in Canada: From elusion to co-management

and beyond,” Canadian Journal of Forest Research, vol. 2, no. 38., (2001), 177. 53

BC, Meares Report, “Clayoquot Band’s position on the logging off Meares Island, Clayoquot Band Council,

“1983, 71. 54 Along with commercial fishing.

18

quality. These two common features go a long way in explaining why the three groups banded

together in support of Native title during the logging blockade. Ultimately, the early

environmental movement in Clayoquot did not try to “save” Meares. Rather, it sought to protect

the compatible interests of the local stakeholders who organized and comprised it.

That the early environmental movement in Clayoquot centred on Native title suggests

that it aligned with environmental justice. The idea of environmental justice emerged out of

cities in the United States during the 1970s, where mostly black communities faced

disproportionately high levels of urban toxins and waste. Scientific studies conducted during the

1970s and 1980s linked these high levels of pollutants to a wide range of developmental and

health problems.55 In response, members of black communities — mostly led by women —

demanded that the government institute environmental policies that could provide them with an

equal opportunity to live in a healthy and productive place.56 These demands postulated that

environmental management and social justice were inexorably linked. And while Meares did not

grapple with pollutants or toxic waste, this principle still applied to the island. Since the mid-

nineteenth century, colonialism in B.C. left a scarring legacy of injustice for the province’s First

Nations, who had been alienated their traditional resource bases. This alienation occurred

through both colonial resource management practices, and social programs designed to

assimilate First Nations. In the case of the former, B.C.’s frontier-capitalist approach to resource

management readily depleted the resources that First Nations relied on. In the case of the latter,

social programs such as the residential school system decimated the traditional ecological

55

Kristin Shrader-Frechette, Environmental Justice: Creating Equality, Reclaiming Democracy, (New York:

Oxford University Press, 2002), 19. 56

Ibid.

19

knowledge of B.C.’s First Nations, which in turn, restricted their ability to utilize their resources

bases.57 These alienating colonial practices negatively affected First Nation communities. For

example, in Clayoquot, the Nuu-chah-nulth faced dire economic conditions with unemployment

running as high as 70% in some communities.58 The Clayoquot Band shared in this hardship.

For instance, in their report to the MIPT in 1983, the group stated that, “economy-wise, the

outlook does not look too optimist for our own band.”59 Given these troubling conditions, the

support that local stakeholders showed for the tribal park claim aligned with environmental

justice. By transferring the island over to native title, the Band could pursue, on their own terms,

the resource harvesting practices which sustained them both culturally, and economically.

On a wider scale, the movement’s support for title also aligned with environmental

justice. The Clayoquot Band never surrendered their title over Meares through any sort of treaty

process.60 This trend was the norm across B.C., where the majority of the province’s First

Nations never formally ceded their lands to the crown. Given this failure, the Clayoquot Band’s

tribal park claim represented a challenge to the historical injustice that characterized colonialism

in B.C. Furthermore, it provided other First Nations groups with a precedent to follow.

Although a tribal park declaration by no means addressed the full extent of Naive Title, it has

become a legal tool which First Nations can use to protect specific culturally, economically, and

socially valuable sites threatened by resource development.61

57

Wyatt, “First Nations, forest lands, and “aboriginal forestry” in Canada,” 175. 58

Bruce Braun, The Intemperate Rainforest: Nature, Culture, and Power on Canada’s West Coast, (Minneapolis:

University of Minnesota Press, 2002), 14. 59

BC, Meares Report, Clayoquot Band Council, 1983, 71. 60 Braun, The Intemperate Rainforest, 5. 61

Ross, First Nations Sacred Sites in Canada’s Courts, 50.

20

The conflict over Meares Island came to an end on 27 March 1985. Following the

blockade, MB had filed an injunction against the protestors in order to continue their logging

operations. However, the Nuu-chah-nulth counter-filed with their own injunction which

demanded that MB halt its plans due to the Clayoquot Band’s tribal park claim. The case made

its way to the British Columbia Court of Appeals where, ultimately, the five sitting judges ruled

in the Nuu-chah-nulth’s favour. The judges based their decision on the fact that logging would

do “irreparable harm” to the Band, while not significantly harming the logging industry or

economy.62 This victory signalled the end to the early environmental movement in Clayoquot.

Ultimately, this movement was truly homegrown. Faced with a forestry management process

that ignored their interests, local stakeholders banded together in their support for the Clayoquot

Band’s tribal park claim. Far from being altruistic, this support rested on the fact that the

tourism industry, the FOCS, and the Band itself each held compatible stakes on the island.

Internationalization

In the broader scheme of MB’s Clayoquot holdings though, Meares was fairly

insignificant. In 1984, the logging giant combined TFL 20 with TFL 21 to form TFL 44. TLF

44 totalled 452 826 hectares of forested land, an area over one-thousand times larger than

Meares. In addition, other large corporations such as Fletcher Challenge Canada held extensive

rights in the Sound. These holdings represented billions of dollars worth of potential revenue,

62

Ibid., 32.

21

which logging corporations such as MB and Fletcher Challenge Canada would not give up just

because the courts protected Meares under a tribal park designation. In fact, the exact opposite

was true. Following MB’s defeat on Meares, many in the logging industry believed that the

courts crossed a line by ruling in the Clayoquot Band’s favour, because the decision had the

potential to legitimize similar land claims across the province.63 In light of this challenge, the

logging industry was more eager than ever to stake its claim in Clayoquot. The financial

challenges that it faced during the 1980s further dictated logging the Sound. Alongside a

recession that hit B.C.’s resource based economy particularly hard, the logging industry depleted

the majority of B.C.’s easily accessible forests by the late 1980s. This depletion forced large

corporations into more and more remote areas, which proved less profitable due to increased

transportation costs, and lower cut-allowances. In light of these two challenges, logging

corporations extended their operations throughout Clayoquot during the mid-80’s, heralding a

new era for environmental conflict in the Sound.

In the years following Meares, the environmental conflict expanded in scope to concern

the entirety of Clayoquot. This process occurred gradually over the mid-to-late 80s. Following

the Clayoquot Band’s victory in court, the FOCS emerged as an energized and well organized

local advocacy group. The group boasted hundreds of members, and had a biannual newsletter

which circulated throughout Clayoquot.64 What it really needed though, was a new controversy

to focus its energy on. In this pursuit, the group looked to other sites that MB and other large

corporations planned to log throughout the Sound. These sites included areas such as the

63

Ibid., 29. 64 Pralle, Branching Out and Digging In, 54..

22

Clayoquot River Valley and Sulphur Passage, where the FOCS initiated — or threatened to

initiate — new logging blockades during the late 80s. However, unlike Meares, these conflicts

did not end with a neat resolution. Instead, logging corporations refused to backdown in the face

of environmentalists, who they felt threatened the future of B.C.’s lucrative forestry industry.65

Their concern was not without merit. While the conflict over Meares represented only one

island, the expansion of the conflict into areas such as Sulphur Passage and the Clayoquot River

Valley signalled that the entire Sound was at stake. Given its vast economic potential, logging

corporations were not prepared to give in. On the other hand though, with their prior success at

Meares and growing support base, neither was the FOCS.

Faced with the impasse between environmentalists and the logging industry, B.C.’s new

NDP government under Mike Harcourt initiated several task-forces in an effort to end the

province’s “war in the woods” during the late 80s and early 90s. These task forces included the

Task Force on Sustainable Development (1988), and the Clayoquot Sound Sustainable

Development Strategy Steering Committee (1991). However, like the earlier MIPT, both these

teams failed to reach a decision. During the Clayoquot Sound Sustainable Development Strategy

Steering Committee, the FOCS had even resigned because logging continued in the Sound while

65

MacMillan Bloedel Limited, “The Land Use Controversy: How did we get into this mess?,” June 19 1989, 1984,

in Warren Magnusson and Kaaren Shaw, eds., Clayoquot Documents: Volume 1 (Tofino, Politics of Clayoquot

Sound Workshop, 1997), 29.

23

Figure 2: Distribution of logging blockades in Clayoquot, 1984-9366

talks were on-going.67 From these failed task-forces, the Harcourt government instituted its own

land use decision for Clayoquot in May 1993. This decision made two thirds of the Sound

available to logging, while setting the last third aside for preservation.68

66

Map taken from Google Maps, made by the author on Microsoft Paint. 67 Craig R. Darling, In Search of Consensus: An Evaluation of the Clayoquot Sound Sustainable Development Task

Force Process, 1992, in Warren Magnusson and Kaaren Shaw, eds., Clayoquot Documents: Volume 1 (Tofino,

Politics of Clayoquot Sound Workshop, 1997), 51. 68

Province of British Columbia, “News Release on Clayoquot Land Use Decision,” April 13 1993, in Warren

Magnusson and Kaaren Shaw, eds., Clayoquot Documents: Volume 1 (Tofino, Politics of Clayoquot Sound

Workshop, 1997), 93.

24

The 1993 land use decision spawned yet another logging blockade, which the FOCS

organized during the summer of 1993. In their invitation to join the blockade, the FOCS urged

people to come, “witness and protest the destruction of the temperate rainforests of Clayoquot

Sound.”69 It proved incredibly successful. The blockade drew thousands of protesters in, with

people coming from across the world to join the group during the summer of 1993. Some

especially prominent attendees included Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Australian rock-band

Midnight Oil, and sitting members of the European parliament.70 But while the blockade

undoubtedly represented a major success for the FOCS, it also illustrated a fundamental shift in

Clayoquot’s environmental movement. In particular, the movement no longer comprised local

stockholders by the end of 1993, but rather, primarily large-scale environmental groups such as

Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. These groups had

helped the FOCS organize the blockade, which goes a long way in explaining why a Kennedy

and Australian rockstars joined the event.

Large-scale environmental groups held an interest in Clayoquot for a number of reasons.

For one, the FOCS developed connections with these groups during the late stages of the conflict

over Meares. They did so, in part, because the local coalition who opposed MB faced a dire

situation in late 1984 and 1985. Although the blockade had prevented MB from temporarily

logging Meares, the island’s fate ultimately rested on the Court’s decision regarding MB and the

Nuu-chah-nulth’s respective injunctions. The prospect of the court ruling in the latter’s favour

did not look optimistic. After all, B.C.’s government usually favoured corporate interests, and

69

Friends of Clayoquot Sound, “July 1st Protest announcement, Summer 1993,” in Warren Magnusson and Kaaren

Shaw, eds., Clayoquot Documents: Volume 1 (Tofino, Politics of Clayoquot Sound Workshop, 1997), 227. 70

Braun, The Intemperate Rainforest, 5.

25

showed minimal regard for Native Title during much of the twentieth-century. Given this less-

than-optimistic position, the FOCS made alliances with larger groups such as the Sierra Club and

the WCWC in an effort to improve their bargaining position.71 In turn, these larger

environmental groups provided the FOCS with logistical and legal support. These measures of

support were further aided by the significant amount of press coverage which surrounded the

conflict. As noted earlier, Meares was a hot topic for the media, who readily reported on

Canada’s first ever logging blockade. And, as new social movements who rely on public

support, large-scale environmental advocacy groups tend to focus on issues that the public are

already aware of.72

But while large-scale environmental groups had shown an earlier interest in Clayoquot,

they only began to dominate its environmental movement during the late stages of 1993. This

increased involvement resulted, in part, from how the conflict was framed in the public

consciousness. Following the 1993 blockades, the media increasingly cast Clayoquot as a binary

battle between “nature” and “industry.” For instance, in August 1993, Maclean’s ran a cover

story on Clayoquot, where they described the battle over the Sound’s forests as the “classic

modern conflict – ecology vs. economy.”73 In this binary conceptualization, large-scale

environmental groups were right in their element. During past environmental battles, groups like

Greenpeace had developed highly effective PR mechanisms which pandered vivid emotional

imagery to the public. In their anti-sealing campaign for instance, the group ran a widely

71 W.T. Stanbury, Environmental groups and the international conflict over the forests of British Columbia, 1990 to

2000, (Vancouver: SFU-UBC Centre for the Study of Government and Business, 2000), 12. 72

Ibid., 20. 73

Maclean’s, The World is Watching Vancouver Island Showdown: Is Canada an Environmental Outlaw?, August

16 1993, in Warren Magnusson and Kaaren Shaw, eds., Clayoquot Documents: Volume 1 (Tofino, Politics of

Clayoquot Sound Workshop, 1997), 249.

26

published ad which read that, “every year the sealers came, to stain the whitish blue floes scarlet

with the life-blood of seals.”74 Ads like this dramatically simplified the complex dimensions of

environmental issues, reducing them into a clash between “destructive humans,” and a “helpless

natural world.” Given these past campaigns which framed environmental issues in a binary

context, Clayoquot became an ideal target for large-scale environmental groups with the

publicity that increasingly surrounded it.

During late 1993, large-scale environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the Sierra

Club brought their highly effective public-relation mechanisms to Clayoquot. In particular, the

groups launched several ad campaigns in an effort to preserve Clayoquot as an untouched

wilderness. By conceptualizing Clayoquot as a “wilderness,” the groups postulated a unique

identity for its forests. Contrary to what we see on Planet Earth or National Geographic, the

“forest” does not exist in any absolute sense. Rather, “the forest” is a place of political, cultural,

and economic conflict with a number of historically constructed identities.75 This definition

stems from post-structuralism, and stipulates that identities of the forest, “are performed rather

than static… constantly reenacted and stabilized within the discursive practices that give them

their legibility.”76 As large-scale groups began to dominate the environmental movement in

Clayoquot following the 1993 protests, they constructed the forest in Clayoquot as a

“wilderness.” While this idea held weight in the battle over Meares, it gained a new meaning

under the advocacy tactics of large-scale environmental groups like Greenpeace, and The Sierra

74

John-Henry Harter, “Environmental Justice for Whom? Class, New Social Movements, and the Environment: A

Case Study of Greenpeace Canada,” Labour/Le travail;, vol. 54, (2008), 98. 75

Braun, The Intemperate Rainforest, 12. 76 Ibid., 33.

27

Club. In particular, the groups launched mass advertising campaigns where they asserted that the

“wilderness” quality of the forest held an inherent value of its own. For example, during a string

of ads in 1993, Greenpeace postulated that Clayoquot was the “Amazon of the North.”77 With its

reference to world’s most expansive and impenetrable tropical rainforest, this slogan

conceptualized Clayoquot as a truly “wild” place. In addition, during the “Amazon of the North”

campaign, Greenpeace contrasted images of a pristine old growth forest with vast swaths of

clear-cuts.78 These dichotomous images dramatically simplified the complex resource

management issues that surrounded the forest, and suggested that it was worth “saving” based on

some intangible ascetic value on its own. This idea is further demonstrated by that the ad

featured a Kahlid Gibran quote which read that, “Trees are a poem the Earth writes across the

Sky. Humanity cuts them down so we may record our own emptiness.”79 By referring to trees

as a poem, the ad again suggested that Clayoquot’s forests should be protected based on an

inherent quality of beauty. Ultimately these ads illustrate that the environmental discourse in

Clayoquot had changed dramatically since the conflict over Meares. While before the battle was

defined in how it affected local stakeholders, large-scale environmental groups now

conceptualized it in terms of some abstract “wilderness” quality.

From a public relations perspective though, it was hardly surprising that large

environmental groups such as Greenpeace conceptualized Clayoquot’s forests as a pristine

“wilderness.” Beginning in late 1993, a number of large-scale environmental groups initiated

77

Greenpeace International, “Canada: Brazil of the North,” November 1993, in Warren Magnusson and Kaaren

Shaw, eds., Clayoquot Documents: Volume 1 (Tofino, Politics of Clayoquot Sound Workshop, 1997), 303. 78

Ibid. 79

Ibid.

28

boycotts of companies who purchased MB’s products.80 With these boycotts, the environmental

conflict in Clayoquot no longer took place on remote logging roads, but rather in newspapers and

televisions sets, where the environmental movement and the logging industry competed for the

hearts and minds — and wallets — of a tantalized public. On this stage of high-drama, the idea

of a pristine “wilderness” provided the environmental movement with an uncomplicated identity

of the forest that the public could rally behind. The failures of the various task-forces and

planning teams initiated during the 80’s and early 90’s illustrated the complex nature of resource

management issues in the Sound. However, with the idea of a pristine “wilderness,” this

complication vanished, replaced by something seductively simple, and even more importantly,

something well established in western cultural discourse.

The idea of Clayoquot as a “wilderness” stemmed from an enduring theme in the cultural

discourse of North America. From Henry David Thoreau at Walden, to the writings of John

Muir, the idea of escaping to a pristine natural space held deep historical roots on the continent.

The historian William Cronon argued that the idea of the “wilderness” holds such a pervasive

appeal in North American culture because it represents a place anterior to modernity; “an ideal

eden that existed before the fall into modern culture.”81 The ad campaigns of large

environmental groups such as Greenpeace allowed the public to participate in, and sustain, the

existence of this imagined place. For instance, in an ad promoting their boycott campaign,

Greenpeace provided a pre-written letter that the reader could sign and send to Sol Trujillo, the

President of US West. US West held the contract on printing phonebooks in the U.S., and

80 Stanbury, Environmental groups and the international conflict over the forests of British Columbia, 34. 81

Braun, The Intemperate Rainforest, 78.

29

purchased the majority of its paper from MB. Given that pretty much everybody owns a phone

book, the company was an ideal target for environmental groups to boycott. In Greenpeace’s

prewritten letter, the “writer” states that, “I am appalled to know that your directories contain

pulp from 1000 year old trees clearcut from British Columbia’s ancient rain forests.”82 By

describing Clayoquot as an “ancient rainforest” the letter contested logging on the basis that it

threatened something older, and external to modern culture. This conceptualization offered the

urban audiences who large-scale environmental groups like Greenpeace appealed to, an

opportunity to persevere, and participate in, a space that represented the antithesis of their

modern existence.

The presentation of Clayoquot as a “wilderness” proved incredibly successful for the

environmental movement. For example, US West cancelled its contract with MB in mid-1994,

stating their commitment to more “suitable” products.83 Several other publishers such as the

Wall Street Journal and the New York Times followed their example, putting MB under

significant financial strains by the end of 1994.84 However, the environmental movement’s tacit

political manoeuvring was also deeply problematic, because by conceptualizing the Sound’s

forests as a “wilderness,” the movement increasingly aligned with a more traditional,

conservationist approach to environmental activism. This broke from the earlier environmental

movement, who aligned with environmental justice.

82 Greenpeace International, “Liquidating Canada’s Ancient Rainforests,” December 1993, in Warren Magnusson

and Kaaren Shaw, eds., Clayoquot Documents: Volume 1 (Tofino, Politics of Clayoquot Sound Workshop, 1997),

305. 83

Stanbury, Environmental groups and the international conflict over the forests of British Columbia, 35. 84

Pralle, Branching Out and Digging In, 60.

30

The conservation movement mainly evolved in the U.S. during the turn-of-the-century,

when upper middle class Americans sought an escape from the moral decay that characterized an

increasingly industrial and urban way of life. As a result, conservation groups such as the Boone

and Crockett Club — which was primarily composed of wealthy white men — campaigned for

government to protect “wilderness” areas in America’s increasingly developed frontier. Faced

with this pressure, the government established some of the nation’s most famous national parks

including Yosemite and Yellowstone. In turn, middle-class, white Americans flocked to these

parks in order to escape, for a moment, the moral decay that characterized urban life. This

escape did not necessarily even have to entail a physical trip. In the early 1900’s, America’s

west still resembled a spawning frontier which posed a long and expensive journey for travellers.

Luckily though, prominent figures such as President Theodore Roosevelt, a longtime member of

the Boone and Crockett Club, wrote extensively about their time spent in the nation’s newest

parks. The American public eagerly devoured these words, signalling that like the supporters of

large environmental groups nearly a hundred years later, they wanted to participate in a place

which lay beyond modern culture, even if that place was only imaginary.

Far from idyllic though, the conservation movement postulated an identity of the

“wilderness” that was deeply problematic for the local people who inhabited it. For example,

when the government created Yellowstone, they forcibly removed the area’s First Nation

population who had lived in the area for thousands of years. This removal defined the

“wilderness” along strict racial lines, and points to a deeply problematic legacy hiding behind the

“wild” beauty of parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite.

31

By no means should the environmental movement in Clayoquot be faulted for the same

racial prejudice as the conservation movement. For example, in one ad, Greenpeace asserted that

the 1993 land-use decision betrayed the Nuu-chah-nulth who were struggling to “regain control

of their traditional lands.”85 However, despite this affirmation of support, the idea of the

“wilderness” carried problematic neocolonial meanings. As noted early, environmental groups

repeatedly emphasized the “ancient” nature of Clayoquot’s forests during their ad campaigns.

By stressing the importance of this quality, environmental groups such as Greenpeace dictated

that the forest held value as far as that it remained untouched by modernity. In turn, they

suggested that while First Nations should be able to control their traditional lands, they should do

so on the basis that they do not pursue industrial development. This suggestion conflicted with

the Nuu-chah-nulth’s own interests though. Throughout the later conflict, the First Nation

repeatedly stated that they supported industrial logging in Clayoquot, given that it take place

under Native Title, and that they share in the economic benefits from forestry.86 By supporting

some measure of logging, First Nations often came into conflict with the environmental

movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s. For instance, following calls from large-scale

environmental groups to turn Clayoquot into a national park, one Nuu-chah-nulth band-member

asked, “why should we support white people creating another park for white people?”87 This

opposition illustrates that the intrinsic racial problems that characterized the early conservation

movement were no stranger to Clayoquot either.

85 Greenpeace International, “The Clayoquot Calamity,” October 1993, in Warren Magnusson and Kaaren Shaw,

eds., Clayoquot Documents: Volume 1 (Tofino, Politics of Clayoquot Sound Workshop, 1997), 261. 86

Braun, The Intemperate Rainforest, 46. 87 Craig R. Darling, In Search of Consensus: An Evaluation of the Clayoquot Sound Sustainable Development Task

Force Process, 1992, in Warren Magnusson and Kaaren Shaw, eds., Clayoquot Documents: Volume 1 (Tofino,

Politics of Clayoquot Sound Workshop, 1997), 51.

32

Conclusion

` Ultimately, the environmental movement in Clayoquot underwent a fundamental

change from its early beginnings in 1980, to its development as an international conflict in

the early 90s. What had started out as a collation of local stakeholders, later evolved into a

movement dominated by large-scale environmental groups. In turn, the environmental

discourse in the Sound changed as well. While at first the environmental movement was

concerned with how logging would effect local interests, it later became conceded with how

logging would effect some intangible conception of a “wilderness.” This shift in discourse

also held some problematic implications. As a local movement, the early environmental

collation had supported a tribal park claim and aligned with environmental justice.

However, as an organization of primarily large-scale international groups, the later

environmental movement aligned with a more traditional conversation movement which

posed problematic implications for the Sound’s First Nations.

In addition, it is also worth noting the limitations of this paper. Most pertinently, it was

beyond its scope to explore the role that local labour played in Clayoquot’s environmental

conflict. This absence is problematic because forestry workers depend on logging for their

livelihoods, and therefore are heavily invested in environmental conflicts. In addition, local

labour often find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place during environmental

conflicts, where binary conceptualizations of environmental issues can alienate them. Indeed,

these trends occurred in Clayoquot as-well, as the media and large-scale environmental groups

33

made the battle to be about “nature vs. industry.” Ultimately though, this topic could best be

explored in future research.

The changing nature of Clayoquot’s environmental movement also offers us a few

lessons for addressing environmental issues in our own time. First, as the scale of conflict

changes, so too do implications for justice.88 This idea is by no means new, but it does become

particularly meaningful in the context of Clayoquot. At the local level, the early environmental

movement aligned with environmental justice because it represented the concerns of local

stockholders who the Ministry of Forests and MB alienated in the forestry management process.

This alienation pertained particularly to the Clayoquot Band, which struggled to maintain a

connection with the traditional resource base which culturally and economically sustained them.

However, as the environmental movement expanded into the international arena, it increasingly

alienated the First Nations who comprised its early core. This alienation should give us pause

when supporting large-scale environmental groups. At the same time though, this paper’s intent

is not to dismiss the efforts of large-scale environmental groups either. In a world, and

particularly a province, where frontier-capitalism has more then its fair share of proponents, we

similarly need more people addressing environmental issues. Ultimately though, this must be

carried out in a socially responsible way that addresses the problematic legacies, such as

colonialism, deeply imbedded in our environment.

88 Tina Loo, “Disturbing the Peace: Environmental Change and the Scales of Justice on a Northern River,”

Environmental History, Vol.12, No. 4, (Oct. 2007), 897.

34

Secondly, Clayoquot’s environmental conflict highlights the integral role that First

Nations can play in resolving environmental disputes. On Meares, the Clayoquot Band

ultimately provided a resolution to the conflict with their tribal park declaration. A similar

resolution would also occur on a broader scale in 1996, when the Nuu-chah-nulth entered into an

Interim Measure Agreement over Clayoquot with the provincial government. Both these

victories are cause for hope, and illustrate the fundamental role that First Nations can play in

environmental conflict resolution. This lesson is particularly relevant moving forwards, as with

controversy raging over sites like Jumbo, Site-C, and Kitmate, we are not out of the woods yet.

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